

“If we find something that works, we stick to it. According to Steve Krug, the basic reason for that is that users don’t care. In most cases users muddle through instead of reading the information a designer has provided. Right screenshot on the image at the bottom describes the scan path of a given page. Sequential reading flow doesn’t work in the Web. Optimizing is hard, and it takes a long time.

As soon as they find a link that seems like it might lead to the goal, there is a very good chance that it will be immediately clicked. Instead users satisfice they choose the first reasonable option. Neither do they scan webpage in a linear fashion, going sequentially from one site section to another one. Users don’t search for the quickest way to find the information they’re looking for. The higher is the cognitive load and the less intuitive is the navigation, the more willing are users to leave the website and search for alternatives. Very simple principle: If a website isn’t able to meet users’ expectations, then designer failed to get his job done properly and the company loses money.

In fact, there are large parts of the page they don’t even look at. Visitors glance at each new page, scan some of the text, and click on the first link that catches their interest or vaguely resembles the thing they’re looking for. How Do Users Think?īasically, users’ habits on the Web aren’t that different from customers’ habits in a store. In order to use the principles properly we first need to understand how users interact with websites, how they think and what are the basic patterns of users’ behavior. Principles Of Good Website Design And Effective Web Design Guidelines Subscribe to our email newsletter to not miss the next ones.Designing A Perfect Date and Time Picker.

Designing A Perfect Responsive Configurator.Please notice that you might be interested in the usability-related articles we’ve published before: where the search box should be placed) as it has already been done in a number of articles instead we focus on the main principles, heuristics and approaches for effective web design - approaches which, used properly, can lead to more sophisticated design decisions and simplify the process of perceiving presented information. We aren’t going to discuss the design implementation details (e.g. After all, if users can’t use a feature, it might as well not exist. Since the visitor of the page is the only person who clicks the mouse and therefore decides everything, user-centric design has become a standard approach for successful and profit-oriented web design. Usability and the utility, not the visual design, determine the success or failure of a website. This article has been kindly supported by our dear friends at Creative Brand Design who focus on creating bespoke and interactive web experiences for aspiring and established businesses and enterprises.
